(in a discussion that Newt Gingrich isn’t relevant)
…Newt Gingrich has been absolutely politically relevant. With respect, any other statement is naive at best.
The question arises, often, “Who is the worst president?” Many names frequent that list, Andrew Jackson and now trump, but a lot of people don’t even think about Woodrow Wilson. Wilson’s policies about being a global police force (interventionism), segregation (racism), re-writing southern history (revisionist history), and fierce religiosity (christian persecution complex) are a nightmare. Additionally, Wilson’s power grabs expanding the executive branch and diminishing relations with foreign powers abroad altered the landscape of the balance of powers here at home. We still deal with every single one of these issues today. Wilson’s name may not be brought up in that conversation as often as he should be, but he’s still very relevant.
Much in the same way, Gingrich is in a line of distinguished deplorables etched on bullshit mountain. His grotesqueness is there alongside Nixon -> Reagan -> Limbaugh -> Gingrich -> Fox News -> Bush Jr (And Co) -> McConnell -> Trump (And Co) with unique places reserved for the Koch Bros, Rupert Murdoch, Roger Stone, and other behind the scenes players.
Gingrich, as Speaker of the House, helped change the entire political landscape of the country. He showed it was OK to be guilty of what you lead a crusade against, and it’s fine. Gingrich is part of the disease that produced the Tea Party and, eventually, the trump administration. The hyper-rabid, intensely tribal movement, the win-at-all-costs, power-for-the-sake-of-power movement that the GOP is now organization.
Gingrich still pops up here and there, but the damage he and his lineage caused is still relevant. I have hopes we can one day move past this post-truth anti-intellectual age and regain our collective humanity, as opposed to this reptilian-brained race to the bottom dark age we’re in now. There’s so much good in the world; it’s a shame we have so many forces actively working to fight against it….